Paper Feathers
by Little Miss Molly
Summary: OneShot PhobosxWill The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.


**Title:** Paper Feathers  
**Author:** Der Metzgermeister  
**Disclaimer:** W.I.T.C.H. belongs not to me, as usual.  
**Summary:** The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.  
**Rating:** T  
**Notes:**  
You ever notice those strange people at fast-food places who, when they finish and leave, give the receipt back to the cashier? I wrote most of this on the back of those receipts during slow moments at work. c.C  
The jibber at the beginning is a direct quote from the Riplet Scroll. You can find a link to an account of the entire (REALLY FUCKIN'LONG) thing in me profile. :3

* * *

_In the sea without lees  
__Standeth_ _the bird of Hermes  
__Eating his wings variable  
__And maketh himself yet full stable  
__When all his feathers be from him gone  
__He standeth still here as a stone  
__Here is now both white and red  
__And all so the stone to quicken the dead  
__All and some without fable  
__Both hard and soft and malleable  
__Understand now well and right  
__And thank you God of this sight_

It started small.

There were dreams first; beautiful dreams of golden gardens and curved fountains, where she ran barefoot down cobblestone walkways through hanging willow boughs, draped in strings of lilies and thornless roses.

Each night she would turn-in early, curling in her blankets and squeezing her eyes shut in desperation to fall asleep faster. And when she finally was able to slumber, she wished time would freeze, so she could stay forever in this world of her own making.

Oh, how she loved those dreams.

………………………………………………

But then _he_ came.

The God of fear, with his snake and his moon, invading her garden, turning her world to cold stone void of love and color; leaving her with no place to hide, no shelter in which she could cower, trapped and cornered like an animal.

Her mother noticed the coffee was getting low, but thought nothing of it; it wasn't unusual, after all, now that the schoolwork was getting harder as the years went on. She shrugged it off as "growing up", and made a note on her shopping list to double the coffee load from here on in.

………………………………………………

Soon he grew tired of mere dreams.

Soon he sent his snake to fetch his woman from her world, to spirit her away to a place she had seen but never again wished to return to. Pulled through candles and into darkness, where she lay amongst the flame waiting for her God to come to her.

"You belong to me now, my love."

So she laid there, her sight focused on the distant candles until surely she would go blind; so he climbed atop her, touched her, pleasured her, _fucked _her.

Later, in the dim glow of dying flame, she looked in the mirror.

A gruesome beast stared back at her.

………………………………………………

Her Guardian form had lost her wings.

The phenomenon shocked them all; how could the Keeper lose something and not the rest of them? How could the Chosen One lose the gift of flight, while the rest of them could still take to the air at a whim?

In the broken, empty mirror frame, she could still see herself.

She was changing; into what, no one wished to know.

………………………………………………

"Wilhelmina." He whispered in her ear. "That name no longer suits you, does it?"

She shook her head; she no longer wanted to listen to him, because now she loves his voice; like the finest sherry poured into the ridges of her mind.

"Don't worry, my love, we will find a good name for you." He purred, turning her to better face him; in the candlelight, she saw only the wicked gleam of his irises.

"I hate you." She whispered with tears on her eyelashes. "I _hate_ you."

His cold lips grazed hers; his icy fingers stroking her stomach, gliding along her pale skin; lower.

"I know."

………………………………………………

These days she passes the other four in the school halls, blind to their eyes so full of concern, deaf to their pleas to help, while her mother refuses to buy her any more mirrors if she's just going to break them and lies awake wishing she knew how to help her suffering baby. And oh, she suffers, with every step she takes on knives that are not there.

But no one can help her.

Not anymore.


End file.
